christmas memories
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Christmas 2011 bullet train
- It was after 2:00 am before Carmi or I got in bed this morning.
- Both of us were up by 6:30.
- We could see a nap in our future.
- The kids were up by 7:15.
- Gifts were opened by 8:15.
- We were at church for the day’s one service at 10:00.
- I sang “Sweet Little Jesus Boy”.
- My family came over to the house for brunch following the service.
- Carmi and I napped. But not before our guests left.
- The kids watched Mr. Popper’s Penguins and Kung Fu Panda 2.
- We at Chinese for dinner.
- This was one night I’m glad the Chinese don’t really celebrate Christmas.
- I just wasn’t in the mood for Waffle House.
- Carmi’s big gift this year (which is actually kinda small) was a Kindle Fire.
- I may never see my wife again.
Merry Christmas 2011
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Christmas Eve tradition
If these crazy excited kids of ours asked about presents once today, they asked about presents at least a dozen times.
As in… when do we open presents at Gran’mommy’s house?
Especially that little monkey on the left.
And Eliana came in a very close second.
And Zane? He asked a few times himself. So I think with this being his 3rd Christmas home, he’s finally getting into the spirit.
We did exchange gifts with my immediate family tonight as has been our Christmas Eve tradition since the beginning of time. Or at least as far back as I can recall.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Another one
We hosted another party at our house today.
This time around it was Carmi’s immediate family.
We fellowshipped. And Karys told us she couldn’t wait to open presents.
We ate. And Karys told us she couldn’t wait to open presents.
We cleaned up. And Karys told us she couldn’t wait to open presents.
Notice the pattern?
Then we exchanged gifts.
And I couldn’t wait to play a little peek-a-boo from behind the manger with our one-year-old nephew.
His little belly laughs reminded me how much I just love toddlers.
[sigh]
I want another one.
Thursday, December 08, 2011
Grinches
It’s that time of year when all the old Christmas television specials produced in stop motion animation are being broadcast.
There’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town and Nestor, The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey just to name a few.
Then there’s Jack Frost which was on tonight.
Granted, Jack Frost is not one of my favorites. But it still brought out a smile as I waxed nostalgic for Christmas seasons past.
So what did the Henderson kiddos think of my trip down memory lane?
Karys sat on the edge of the couch for all of 120 seconds before wandering off.
Eliana watched for a few minutes, muttered something like “that’s weird” and started playing an online video game on the PC.
Zane was briefly engrossed. Then he grabbed the remote and changed the channel!
Little Grinches.
Saturday, December 03, 2011
A crape Christmas
Our main task for the day was to string Christmas lights in our 2 crape myrtles in the front yard.
Which is one of those jobs where we like the end result but the process plain ol’ stinks. Bleck.
Oh well. We got ‘er done.
And we had so much fun that we might just put more lights up tomorrow.
No. Really.
But hopefully I’ll take them down before next March.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
A Pandora Christmas
I fired up Pandora on the HDTV tonight, typed in the keyword “christmas” and away we went decorating the tree.
Carmi laughed when the song “Nuttin’ for Christmas” came on. She thought that song described Zane pretty well.
At least the part about hiding a bug in sister’s bed.
Oh, and the part about making Tommy Karys eat a bug.
No better start
There’s no better start for Christmas decorating than to put the tree up and have one or two (or three) strands of tree lights that don’t come on.
[cue sarcasm]
Friday, December 25, 2009
The stockings were hung
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care…
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there…
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Scoping out the tree
As soon as we arrived at Mom’s house tonight - even before the door had a chance to close completely - Zane and Eliana were scoping out the tree.
They hit the floor so quickly and so hard that I thought they were going to give me twenty!
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
What did you do with our girls?
Carmi had to work today so this was the first full day during Christmas break that I had Zane, Eliana and Karys all to myself.
Help. Me. Jesus.
I’m thoroughly convinced that someone did a switcheroo and replaced our two sweet girls with their evil twin sisters last night.
They were at each other’s throats a-l-l-t-h-e-l-i-v-e-l-o-n-g-d-a-y.
Zane and I would just shake our heads. And he would shoot me a look that said, “I want a brother. Now.”
Mom asked if I would pick up a few Christmas presents for her this afternoon. In return, she offered to keep the three kiddos.
“Mom, are you sure you…”
“I’ll be just fine.”
“Now I can take Zane or Eliana with me and…”
“Go on! I have a plan.”
So go I did.
When I came back, all three kids were banished to lounging in a different part of the house. With the exception of some show on the Cartoon Network blaring from the television, there was a peace. And Mom was smiling.
The day was capped off with a visit to see a nephew and niece-in-law who are going out of town tomorrow. They won’t be back until after Christmas.
Zane received his first ever Christmas present and seemed to enjoy tearing into the wrapping.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Where the real action was
Tonight, the Sunday School class Carmi and I attended (before starting work with the Youth) had a Christmas party. We had good food, lots of fellowship… and an ornament exchange.
All the adults were asked to bring a wrapped ornament and when it was time to start the exchange, everyone drew a slip of paper with a number on it.
The person who drew #1 picked the first present at random and opened it to show off the ornament inside. Person #2 could then either take the ornament from #1 or choose another present at random. Person #3 could then either take the ornament from #1 or #2 or choose another present at random. And on it went until all ornaments were distributed.
Karys was not the least bit interested in going upstairs to play with the other younger children. Oh no. She insisted on being downstairs where the real action was taking place and where she could be the center of attention.
And she had to play with a lady’s hair… who fortunately didn’t mind.
I use mousse in my hair. Most nights when I put Eliana and Karys to bed, they work and work to give me a mohawk by pushing my (slightly) stiff hair to the middle and make it stand straight up.
Karys tried her best to give this lady a mohawk but it wasn’t happening.
Later, the lady was even kind enough to let Karys pick her ornament.
Monday, December 07, 2009
I had already confessed my sin
We had some really cute ornaments on the three trees on the front porch. Until I tried to unplug the lights before bed on Saturday night.
I accidently elbowed one and they all went down like dominoes.
So Karys was outside with me a few minutes ago while I cleaned up my mess.
“Dad, you need to get that cleaned up before mommy sees it”, she said.
Which would have been a great plan.
Unfortunately I had already confessed my sin yesterday.
Sunday, December 06, 2009
A Christmas card photo take
We took a series of photos today for our Christmas card.
This isn’t the one we chose in the end but this one is really sweet.
Saturday, December 05, 2009
First line of defense
What do you do about nosy kids [ *cough* Zane *cough* Eliana *cough* ] who threaten to sneak peeks at their presents?
If the present is in a bag, our first line of defense is to staple the sucker shut.
Actually we’re more worried about the cats getting into stuff.
